


A Night in the Park

by ectoPaleontologist



Category: Jurassic Park - All Media Types, Jurassic Park Original Trilogy (Movies), Jurassic World Trilogy (Movies)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Animal Attack, Dinosaurs, F/F, Gen, Horror, Science Fiction, Survival Horror, This fic predicted Battle at Big Rock, Thriller
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-22
Updated: 2019-05-22
Packaged: 2020-03-09 11:58:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18916534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ectoPaleontologist/pseuds/ectoPaleontologist
Summary: "God creates dinosaurs. God destroys dinosaurs. God creates Man. Man destroys God. Man creates dinosaurs.""Dinosaurs eat man. Woman inherits the earth.”Set after the events of Fallen Kingdom, the fallout of what started over twenty years ago on an island in Costa Rica has now spread to the rest of the world. Even a simple camping trip has the risk of a life-or-death encounter with animals from another world that has long since passed. When Pandora's Box has been opened, it is the common folk that suffer the most.





	A Night in the Park

“I’m telling you, more should’ve been done that day. We collectively failed and look where we are now!”

“Senator, what do you suggest we should have done?”

“We should’ve firebombed the whole place as soon as we found out about it all those years ago! Then we would’ve been safer!”

“I disagree. The technology was still there. Even if God himself intervened, scientists would have still figured it out, one way or another. It was out of our control. We made our choice, but a third party was in play.”

“Where the hell is this ‘third party’ today? If it were up to me, I’d have them held accountable for all the damage they’ve caused. Do you know how many people have been killed, how many neighborhoods have been terrorized, how much  _ money _ has been spent trying to clean this up?”

“With all due respect, Senator, I don’t believe there is a ‘cleaning this up.’”

“What are you talking about?”

“Pandora’s box has been opened up time and time again. First when man made tools, then when man discovered fire, electricity, automobiles, nuclear power, and so on. This is just another box that was opened, and you can’t put everything back in there anymore. It’s out there in the world and we have to deal with that.”

“Lives are on the line and our budgets are strained and you want us to just ‘deal with that?’”

“In a way, yes. Proceed, but with great caution now. The world is a lot different than the one we grew up in as children. It’s a brave new world now, and we have to accept that reality. As aptly as Hammond put it all those years ago, li-”

The screen of the tablet froze on the image of a two pixelated figures debating behind a desk in a CNN newsroom as the “4G” in the top corner of the screen now read “No Service.” 

“You lose signal?”

“Seems like it.”

“Good. Then we’re close.”

A seemingly infinite barrage of rain pounded the roof of the car, with quivering sheets of water running down the windshield faster than the thumping wipers could sweep away, almost completely obscuring the curving night road ahead.

“Do you think it’s safe?”

“Of course not.”

“Ramona!”

“Of course it is.” Ramona chuckled. “You know I’m just kidding.”

“I don’t know…you think we’ll see anything out there?”

She shrugged. “Probably a few squirrels at most. Maybe a deer. You hardly ever see any wildlife, even at this time of year.”

“I hope you’re right.”

“Maria,” Ramona started, releasing a hand from the steering wheel and clasping it into her wife’s, “it’s gonna be okay.”

Maria sighed and settled her gaze onto the road ahead. “I hope you’re right,” she repeated.

The rain continued, muffling the low, growling roar of the engine as the SUV charged along its inky path, the world beyond the foggy windows nothing more than a hypothetical.

A small yawn came from the backseat, followed by a drowsy, “Are we there yet, mommy?”

“No.”

“No.”

“I think she was talking to me,” Maria said.

Ramona raised an eyebrow. “Actually, I think she was talking to  _ me _ .”

Maria narrowed her eyes with a dangerous smile as she said, “Let’s settle this. Lucy, sweetie, which mommy were you talking to?”

“Uhhhh…” Lucy hesitated. “I don’t wanna answer this question.”

“Hmph.” Maria crossed her arms in dissatisfaction.

“I still think it was me,” Ramona asserted.

“How much longer  _ do _ we have til we get there?” Maria asked, changing the subject.

“If memory serves me… hmm…at least half an hour.”

“I’m going to  _ die _ by then!” Lucy cried.

“Lucy, don’t joke like that!” Maria scolded. “I didn’t teach her that, did  _ you _ teach her that?” she asked Ramona in a voice sharpened with accusation.

“Pfffft! No, of course not! Why would I teach her that?” she said unconvincingly, struggling to conceal a guilty smile.

Maria narrowed her eyes and very scornfully replied, “Your ears are red and you’re looking away from me, both of which you do when you’re not telling the truth.”

“Okay, first off: You can’t even see me turn red because it’s pitch black. Second: I’m not looking away from you, I’m keeping my eyes on the road to keep us  _ safe _ .”

“Okay, Ms. Daisy,” Maria started, also working hard to suppress a smile, “if you’re trying to keep us safe, then why are you going thirty on a ten mile per hour road?”

“I don’t think you understand that reference, and…” she paused, and her voice softened as she continued, “I’m only going fast to get you the much needed relaxation and family time you deserve as soon as possible.”

“Hmm… real smooth one there, Speed Racer.” She leaned towards Ramona, muttering, “I think I’ll forgive you” before planting a kiss on her cheek.

“There we go.” Ramona chuckled.

Maria then slapped the back of Ramona’s head. “But no teaching our daughter morbid jokes,” she hissed.

“You got it, captain,” she replied sarcastically.

Faint, shadowy outlines of massive, towering shapes lined the edges of the road, only revealing themselves in the dim yellow headlights as the swollen tree trunks of ancient sequoias, coated in thick, red, striated skin. As the road climbed higher and higher, the trees grew larger and larger, eventually growing larger than the length of the SUV in diameter, almost too big to seem real. Maybe on a clearer night, somewhere above the impossibly high treeline, the timid stars would reveal themselves, a myriad of distant lights free from the orange glow of the city that more often than not conquered twilight. Maybe on a clearer night, the forest would have been more inviting, the air warmer, laced with the faint scent of pine needles and the ambient tunes of insects as the stars peeked through gaps in the jigsaw canopy, the night gently embracing its visitors in its amorphous arms.

This was not one of those nights.

Maria turned to Ramona and started to ask, “You think we’ll run into any rangers up th-”

A gray mass flashed across the headlights as it dashed across the road.

“Jesus!”

The tires squealed harshly as the car skidded to an abrupt halt. The shape — whatever it was — disappeared into the brush as quickly as it appeared. Both parents sat panting as the vehicle rested on an incline, Ramona’s foot still pressing the brake pedal down to the floor of the SUV. The only sounds now were the parents’ sharp breaths, slowing down slightly now, and the steady thrumming of the rain outside.

“That was fun!” Lucy cried from the backseat.

"What the hell was that?” Maria asked, her voice heavy with panic.

Ramona kept her wide eyes fixed ahead on the road ahead, replying almost catatonically, “I don’t know.”

“It was one of those  _ things _ , wasn’t it?”

“I don’t know.”

“It had to be one of them. Do you know what those things can do?”

“I…don’t know.”

“We’re not safe here. We’re not safe here.” Maria ran her fingers through her hair, her eyes flickering to all the images she’d seen on the news and online, the harshly lit, blurry photos of torn, bloodied hands and legs lying on the ground: leftovers. She turned to Ramona, her voice coming in quivering between ragged breaths. “We need to leave. Now.”

Ramona nodded slowly and slightly as she said, “I think you’re right.”

“Let’s go before it comes back this way.”

“I can’t make a U-turn right here, road’s too narrow,” she said, gesturing at the thin single-lane road ahead. “If I do, we could go off the road and get stuck for God knows how long, especially with this weather. I’m gonna go up the road a bit and find a passing place to let me turn.”

“Fine, but please hurry,” Maria said, wrapping her arms around herself tightly, eyes scanning what little she could make out of the world outside.

“No need to tell me twice. Maybe by the time we come back down it’ll be gone.” Ramona shrugged, hoping to give some seed of reassurance.

“Maybe.”

Ramona shifted her foot to the gas, the SUV crawling forward a little more cautiously now. Both parents kept their eyes sharp, scrutinizing everything and anything the dim headlights could reveal. The road climbed higher and higher, winding along seemingly infinitely now, the towering sequoias and voluminous ferns bordering the road now seeming to suffocate it as they loomed oppressively, silently.

The SUV rounded another sharp turn and then another before the road leveled and the narrow shoulder swelled and widened into a passing place, providing ample space to pull over and turn around. As Ramona approached, she noticed another vehicle, a beat-up white pickup truck sitting idly in the parallel passing place on the other side of the road with rain flittering through its yellowed headlights.

As her wife pulled over, Maria said, “We ought to let them know that something’s nearby.”

“I’ll tell him right now.”

Ramona eased the car to a stop, and rolled down the window. The rain was much louder now, a never-ending pitter patter that seemed to swallow up the entire world, now slapping across the interior panelling of the car door.

“Hey!’ she called out, waving her arm out the window.

The truck window rolled down, behind it an old man in a yellow poncho. He had sharp, roughened features, his eyes narrow and his scruffy beard silver with stubborn flecks of black. 

“Can I help you?” he called out, his harsh voice barely pushing through the downpour.

“You should get out of here!” Ramona shouted, her hands cupped around her mouth. “We saw something just down the road! It’s not safe here!”

“What? You’re gonna have to speak up! I can’t hear you!”

“I said you gotta get out of here! It’s not safe!”

“Sorry, miss! I still can’t hear you!”

“Damn,” Ramona said, leaning back into her seat, rolling up the window. “I’m gonna pull around and tell him,” she said to Maria as she shifted the gear back into drive, hands twisting the steering wheel.

She had barely moved the car an inch when they heard the sound. Where thunder rolls and rumbles from the clouds, resonating in the small rattling bones of your ear, this sound was much more abrupt, sharper, a single quick burst that shot right through your chest. It was a gunshot.

The car jolted as Ramona braked and put it back in park.

“What the hell was that?” Maria asked.

“I’m not sure. It sounded like a gun.”

Maria’s eyes shot open, incredulous. “A gun?”

Ramona looked over at the truck on the other side of the road. With surprising speed, the old man ran out of his truck and to the side of the road.

“Hey, wait!” Ramona called out as she ran out into the rain.

Maria called her name but Ramona could hardly hear her. The rain pounded against her face and almost immediately soaked through her jacket as she sprinted after the old man. 

“Hey! You can’t be out here, it’s-”

The old man spun around swiftly, a finger to his lips as Ramona skidded to a stop, standing there in silence in front of the truck with the man, listening. The only sound they could hope to make out was just the unwavering rain, thrumming on the tops of the vehicles, slapping the leaves and asphalt, and pattering against the man’s yellow plastic poncho. He silently limped around to the passenger door of the truck, opening the door and withdrawing a long, narrow object, flat on one end, bending and tapering into a thin metal tube: a rifle. 

Ramona stood there silently, glancing back at her car. From the open driver’s side door, she could see Maria watching with wide eyes, fingers anxiously clawing into the dashboard. She looked back at the old man in the yellow poncho, unevenly tip-toeing forward to the edge of the road, silently loading his gun as he stared off into the inky foliage, heavy beads of water collecting and dripping off his brow, streaming down his weathered face. They listened and they listened, only to hear the same ambient sounds of the forest. 

Then they heard it. Another gunshot, shoving through their eardrums and lingering uncomfortably in their chests. Like a condensed thunderclap it rang out, echoing throughout the forest until it was swallowed up by the downpour. When it faded, another sound made itself apparent. It was faint at first, but soon undeniable as it grew closer. It was a man screaming.

Ramona looked to the old man in the yellow poncho but he did not look back, only staring into the forest as he readied his gun. The man’s distant screams slowly grew louder, closer. Then another sound caught their attention. A radio inside the truck crackled to life, a man’s frantic voice following.

“—ck appr—ing! We got thr— up the—! They —d Michael! —ey just —d him up!”

The old man’s head cocked back towards Ramona.

“Turn it off!” he hissed.

Ramona ran over to the driver’s side door of the truck, still open. The voice on the other end screamed between bursts of static, though she wasn’t sure if it was in pain or fear. She leaned forward to shut off the radio, but the voice cut out abruptly before her hand even neared the dashboard. Ramona swallowed a hard lump in her throat, still leaning into the cabin of the truck, her hand lingering over the radio. With a trembling hand, she flicked it off and inhaled a deep, sharp breath. She suddenly became aware of her own heartbeat, steadily growing quicker.

Still standing at the side of the road with his gun pointed at the brush, the old man muttered, “If you’re going to make a run for it, I hope you have quiet feet. With how fast these things move, you’ll be on the ground before you even make it halfway back — and that’s if they don’t blind you. These damn things…it’s always up to us normal people to deal with everyone else’s mistakes, isn’t it?”

Ramona knew he couldn’t see her, but she nodded slowly in agreement. The screaming from the forest became clearer now, closer yet. Another shot fired, another harsh thunderclap jolting the ribcage. 

“Poor bastard, told him not to go alone. He’s not going to make it, with that thing after him.” He shook his head slightly as he said, “I don’t get it. It’s usually over much quicker than this. I don’t know how he’s running this long.”

Ramona’s eyes were fixated on the forest now, the rustling branches and leaves animated by the passing storm. She could feel her chest and neck throbbing rapidly, but her body remained frozen. Any second now, it would come.

“You might actually still have time, you know, if they’re not already here.”

Her mouth finally thawed, her jaw shivering and stuttering as she said, “Th-they are. That’s what I was trying to warn you about. I saw it. One of them ran across the road. A gray one.”

The old man spun around, his eyes wide. “A gray one you say? Oh God, this is worse than I thought.”

“What? What’s the deal if it’s gray?”

The old man limped towards her, frantic voice asking, “How big was it?”

“I don’t know, it just ran across the road before I could get a good look at it. Maybe around man-sized? One of the two-legged ones.”

“Get in the car. Go. Go right now.”

“What’s going on?”

The old man pointed towards the brush behind him as he said, “The ones we’re hunting would have killed him quickly. This one is letting him run. It’s letting him run back to the rest of the herd.”

Ramona suddenly understood as a wave of chills ran down her spine. 

A surge of adrenaline electrified Ramona’s nerves as she sprinted towards her car. The rain pounded against her body, tiny bullets colliding with her face. A larger bullet slapped against her chest halfway to the car, like a soft punch. She stopped dead in her tracks and looked down at her jacket. There was an inky black ooze splattered over her chest, laced with loose white foam. She froze in place. Another soft punch splattered against her upper left arm, coating it in the same strange discharge. Somewhere in the brush behind the SUV, an owl hooted softly. Against her better judgment, Ramona looked up. 

The owl hooted again and peaked its head out of the brush. Only, it wasn’t an owl. A long, narrow reptilian head emerged from the branches, peaking over the roof of the car. Atop its head were two long, thin, arching red crests running parallel to each other from the tip of the snout to above the eyes, converging in a V-shape from the front profile. Its unblinking beady amber eyes stared at Ramona, the tiny black pupils fixed upon her. Ramona was face to face with a dinosaur, living, breathing, in the flesh. It tilted its head to the side curiously and let out another soft hoot, the slight curve of its closed mouth almost making it seem like it was smiling.

_ Maybe this isn’t one of the bad ones, _ Ramona thought, trembling in place, giving a nervous smile at the animal in return.  _ Maybe this is one of the ones that only eats plants. _ Her eyes drifted down to Maria, wide eyes fixed on Ramona through the open car door, biting a quivering lip as she refused to turn around. Ramona looked back up to the animal’s friendly curious, friendly face, still not daring to move an inch.

The animal quickly threw its head back and jerked it forward as Ramona felt something warm splatter across her collar. A tentative hand reached up and felt the same discharge as before, sticky and slimy between her fingertips. The dinosaur had just spit on her. Ramona’s neck and fingertips soon started to tingle uncomfortably. The sensation intensified into a mild burning before Ramona soon realized that this wasn’t just spit, it was venom. 

She slowly took a cautious step back and wiped her fingertips on her coat, shaking her head slowly, not daring to take her eyes off the animal’s face. The dinosaur took a step forward, and then another, and then another, revealing itself in full. It seemed to loom over the SUV, its head almost six feet in the air now, perched atop a long, flexible neck with a red patch on the throat. Twigs snapped under the weight of its massive, clawed feet, gracefully stalking forward like some giant bird, its head bobbing slightly. Rivulets of water streaked down its lean, slender body, dark green with splotchy black stripes throughout, pale white on the underside. A long, whiplike tail finally emerged from the foliage, the tip slowly swaying side-to-side in the air, impossibly long. 

Ramona couldn’t believe her eyes. Right before her was a living dinosaur. Had she not been petrified in fear, she would have been amazed. However, the animal was slowly stalking forward, its length creeping around the front of the SUV, the very one her family was in. It ducked its head down, nostrils flaring as it sniffed the grill, quickly drawing its head back as its eye was caught in the headlights. 

“Cover your ears,” the old man whispered from just behind Ramona.

Out of the corner of her eye, Ramona saw the tip of the barrel of the old man’s rifle. The dinosaur shook its head slightly and blinked as its vision returned. Ramona took in unsteady, ragged breaths. The rifle clicked as the old man took off the safety, raising the sight to his eye. Ramona raised her hands to cover her ears, only for the old man to scream. 

The rifle clattered to the ground as he dropped it and pressed his palms against his eyes. He staggered about pathetically, wailing in agony. Ramona took him by the shoulders, trying to steady him, only to then see the splatter of black ooze peeking out from under his palms. He clawed away at his eyes, tearing away stringy, viscous clumps of the tar-like substance. He continued to scream incoherently, dribble falling out of his mouth and washing away in the frigid rain. Ramona was almost dragged to the ground as he fell to his knees, his hands desperately flinging away clumps of venom from his eyes. As Ramona tried to pull him back up, he stopped struggling, only looking at her face with semi-cleared, vacant eyes, blinking rapidly. His face was frozen as his blinking slowed, his gaze empty and distant.

“I… I can’t see,” he said, his voice quivering as he shook his head slightly.

“Oh God…” Ramona managed through a trembling jaw. “Come on, let’s get you out of here.”

Ramona looked over to her car, the dinosaur passing by the open door, stalking towards her and the blinded old man, hooting softly. Behind the animal, she could see Maria leaning forward, arm outstretched towards the door handle. Ramona mouthed “No” but it was too late. Maria pulled the door shut. The dinosaur’s head cocked back towards the sound, letting out a curious chirp as it changed direction. Its clawed fingers wiggled in the air as it flexed its wrists in anticipation.

Without thinking, Ramona waved her arms, shouting, “Hey! Over here!” 

The dinosaur’s attention shot back towards her. It changed course once again and took a step towards her. Ramona broke into a sprint, dragging the old man behind her. Splashing footfalls followed and quickened behind her. She brought the old man over to the passenger side of the truck, nearly throwing him onto the seat. She slammed the door shut and spun around to see the snout of the animal hardly a couple of feet away from her face. It let out a disarming chirp, tilting its head to the side in curiosity. Its thick, hot breath coalesced on her face along with the rhythmic flares of its nostrils. Ramona struggled to stifle a gag at the smell of the animal. It smelled overwhelmingly of rotting flesh, of decay, of  _ death _ . 

Hand still on the door handle, Ramona resisted the urge to run away as fast as she could. The dinosaur’s beady eyes studied her briefly before rolling back. Its flexible neck retracted and threw its head back with sharp force. Ramona immediately threw open the car door. A shot of venomous spit splattered across the car window with a thick squelch. Ramona slammed the door shut, sprinting around the bed of the truck to the open driver side door. The onset of splashing footfalls behind her were silenced as she jumped in and slammed the door behind her. A heavy metallic thud sounded from the left side of the truck as it rocked on its axle. Ramona looked out the window to see the dinosaur slamming the side of its head against the truck door. It raised its head to the window, its narrowed amber eye glaring at Ramona. It let out a blast of hot air through its flaring nostrils, fogging up the window.

Ramona instinctively locked the door, turning to the old man beside her. He lay slumped in his seat, moaning faintly, his breaths quick and shallow. Ramona pressed two fingers against his neck, his pulse pounding. She looked back out the window, trying to get a look at the SUV only for the dinosaur to block her view completely, letting out another fogging breath. She looked in the rearview mirror, the animal’s tail wrapping around the back of the vehicle and blocking her view there too. Her eyes darted across the interior of the truck, frantically searching for anything of use. Her hands dove through the glove department, chancing upon what felt like the grip of a gun. She withdrew it and pulled to close to her. It was a flare gun. She dug through the glove department again, feeling small capped cylinders: flares. She snatched them out and loaded the gun.

_ Here goes nothing _ , she thought.

She turned her attention to the dinosaur outside her window. With a snorting breath, it continued to study her with angry amber eyes. As soon as Ramona made eye contact, its neck exploded into a fierce frill of scarlet skin, rattling as it let out a shrill, harsh cry. Ramona flinched, staring at the animal in fearful bewilderment. With a squelching thud, a shot of black venom splattered across the window. 

Barely a second later, the rear windshield shattered. A sudden pain assaulted the base of her skull, as if she’d been suckerpunched. She rubbed the back of her head and looked behind her. The tail of the dinosaur waved in the air briefly before retreating, soon replaced by the dinosaur’s cold, ever-smiling face. The next thing she knew, the truck was rocking wildly, axle squeaking as the dinosaur shoved its head into the cabin. Ramona ducked down, squeezing as small as she could on the floor of the truck, clenching her eyes shut, hands over the back of her head. She could hear the animal’s snorting breath as its jaws snapped repeatedly. The gnashing of its teeth was replaced by another sound: a dull squelch and cracking accompanied by agonized screaming. 

Against her better judgment, Ramona looked up. The dinosaur had its jaws clenched on the old man’s head like a vise. His face went red as he screamed, arms flailing desperately. His eyes were open wide, seemingly bulging out of his skull. His wild, glistening eyes met Ramona’s before he was lifted out of his seat and pulled through the back of the cabin. Before she could stop herself, Ramona’s hands were grasping his ankles. She pulled as hard as she could, arms burning as she struggled against the grip of the dinosaur. It snorting breath quickened as the old man’s screams grew louder, too loud. Soon, his screaming stopped, his legs falling limp in Ramona’s hands. Ramona looked up, the dinosaur’s jaws buried deeper into his deflated head, scarlet red dripping from either side. 

Hot, desperate tears streamed down Ramona’s cheeks. She pulled harder on the old man’s ankles, refusing to let go. The dinosaur tightened its grip and yanked its head back. The old man’s body was pulled out of the cabin, lying ragdolled in the bed of the truck as the dinosaur started to drag him away. Ramona slumped back down to the floor of the cabin, stifling a furious, terrified sob. She had to something. She had to do something — anything. 

From inside the truck cabin, she could hear excited snorting muffled under thick, visceral squelches and crunches. Flare gun in hand, she peeked over the seat and into the bed of the truck — only to immediately wish she hadn’t. The old man’s body was still lying on the bed of the truck, with the dinosaur hunched over his body, its bloodied snout burrowed deep into his abdomen. It noticed Ramona and looked up to meet her gaze, withdrawing a ragged chunk of flesh in the process. It tilted its head to the side curiously and let out an innocent, cooing hoot, blood still dripping from its chin. 

Without hesitation, Ramona thrust the flare gun in its direction and pulled the trigger. A red streak shot out and bounced off the animal’s right thigh. It dropped the chunk of flesh and staggered backwards in surprise. The flare landed a few yards away near the edge of the road, acrid, fluorescent smoke rising as it burned brightly. The animal crept over towards the flare, approaching with caution. Ramona readied another flare as she shifted her position, turning towards the door, ready to make a run for it. Out of sight now, the dinosaur chittered uneasily, still investigating the flare. Under that, Ramona heard another sound. It was the approaching scream of the man in the forest. 

He was close, much closer now. His voice was loud and clear. The snapping of branches and twigs could be heard as he approached. The sound seemed to echo as more branches and twigs snapped behind that, only softer. It was the other dinosaur. The gray one the old man had warned her about. Ramona caught a quick glance of the old man’s body out of the corner of her eye.  _ No. Not today. Not. Today. _

Like a bat out of hell, she burst out of the truck cabin. She made a beeline for the SUV. She could hear the dinosaur coo sinisterly. She heard the poor man shouting for help as he approached, the panic in his voice crystal clear now. She kept running. She wasn’t stopping. Not this time. She reached the door of the SUV, yanked it open, and jumped inside, slamming the door behind her.

“Mommy!” Lucy shouted from the backseat.

“Ramona! Are you okay?” Maria asked frantically, cupping her hands around Ramona’s cheeks, worried teary eyes catching her gaze and holding her there.

Without saying anything, Ramona pulled Maria into a tight embrace, panting rapidly, warm tears falling onto her wife’s shoulder. Maria’s arms held her back even tighter.

Ramona reluctantly pulled away as she said, “We’re leaving. Right now.”

Shifting the car into drive, she yanked the car to the left, headlights passing over the dinosaur, its head cocking back towards them. Before it could move, a man in bloodied hunting gear burst out of the brush next to the flare, waving his arms frantically as he manifested in the headlights. Ramona slammed the brakes.

“Help! Help me! Don’t leave…” His voice fell short as he skidded to a stop, the dinosaur shifting its attention towards him with a curious head tilt and cooing hoot. 

The man shook its head slightly, his face contorted into a cocktail of hopelessness and terror as he backed up cautiously.

He held his hands before him as he pleaded. “Please… please don’t-”

A gray blur leapt from the brush and pounced onto his back with a squealing shriek. The man screamed and flailed as he was pinned to the ground. Clawed hands gripping his shoulders, its jaws bit down on his head and, with a single, forceful jerk, snapped his neck. His screams abruptly ended, the animal raising itself from off the ground to examine its surroundings. It stood about human height, with a long, narrow snout, curved claws at the ends of its pronated hands tucked under its chest, large sickle claws adorning the innermost toe of each foot, and a cobalt stripe running from its eyes down to the length of its body, dissipating at the end of its tail, waving eagerly in the air behind it. Unlike the other one, this one was immediately recognizable. Everyone alive knew what this one was. It was a velociraptor. 

It stared straight ahead towards the SUV, its unblinking, catlike eyes glowing white-hot in the headlights now. Its nostrils flared out steam as it remained fixated on the vehicle. The raptor tapped one of its sickle claws expectantly on the ground, jaws parting slightly, revealing a tightly packed mouth of curved, pointed teeth. The crested dinosaur let out a low hoot, catching the raptor’s attention. The raptor cocked its head in its direction, lowering itself over its kill and letting out a reptilian hiss. The crested dinosaur shifted its feet and stood tall, just barely outsizing the raptor in length and stature. Its jaw opened slightly to let out a deceptively disarming chitter, tilting its head side to side. The raptor let out a low growl as it glowered at the other animal, its claws possessively digging into the shoulders of the dead man below it. This was the world’s deadliest standoff, and Ramona was too damn scared to make a move. Maria watched silently, sitting tense and rigid in her seat. Not even Lucy had anything to say here.

In the blink of an eye, the crested dinosaur’s curious face became a menacing scowl as its neck exploded into a frill once more, jaws open wide in a shrill, otherworldly scream. Instead of flinching, the raptor leapt forward, tackling its enemy to the ground. The two became a rolling tangle of whipping tails, snapping jaws, and swinging claws. 

“Ramona! Now!” Maria beckoned.

Ramona shifted her foot to the gas pedal and yanked the steering wheel counterclockwise. A flailing mass was thrown before the car, forcing her to slam on the brakes. 

“Jesus!”

The raptor, covered in fresh slashes, staggered to its feet. It made brief eye contact with Ramona, her brown eyes meeting its amber-orange ones for just a second. Ramona felt her heart skip a few beats.

The raptor shifted its attention beyond the SUV as it let out a high-pitched cry and dashed forward, leaping onto the hood before continuing up the roof, pouncing onto the crested dinosaur. Digging its sickle claws into its back, the raptor slashed its hide with its clawed hands. The crested dinosaur staggered forward as it struggled to maintain its balance. With its flexible neck, it tried to reach its head back and snap its jaws indiscriminately. With the raptor just out of reach, the crested dinosaur slammed itself against the right side of the SUV. The vehicle rocked wildly. The raptor rolled off and onto the windshield, cracking it into a spiderweb as it fell to the ground. 

The raptor staggered to its feet before charging once more. With blinding speed, it leapt straight for the other dinosaur’s neck. Both animals went tumbling to the ground in a blur of claws and teeth. The crested dinosaur was on its back now, jaws snapping wildly with arms slashing above it, but it was too late. On top of its chest with claws anchored into its torso, it bit down on the crested dinosaur’s throat, teeth sinking into the soft flesh, clasping down and shaking its head side-to-side with a low growl. The crested dinosaur let out a pained croak as its flailing slowed and ceased, whipping tail falling to the ground limp. The raptor stood up and let out a resounding barklike call into the night sky. 

“Goddamn…” Ramona said under her breath, not daring to take her eyes off the animal. 

Maria tapped her arm with the back of her hand, slowly at first, then a little more frantically. “Honey, look.” She pointed at the rearview mirror.

Bathed in the oppressive red glow of the still-burning flare and brake lights, a single crested head innocently poked its head out of the foliage. And then another. And then another. Beneath the sound of the rain, an exchange of curious owl-like hoots could be heard. The velociraptor turned around and let out a haunting shriek, its clawed arms outstretched.

“I think we’ve seen enough,” Ramona said hurriedly as she slammed the gas pedal, sending the SUV speeding downhill, towards safety. 

As they descended, the ancient, towering trees thinned and tapered out, giving way to smaller pines, with the downpour dying down to a light drizzle. After what felt like a safe distance, Ramona slowed to a more reasonable speed, vigilant eyes scrutinizing the foliage on the side of the road. 

With the atmosphere of the car having grown somewhat calmer, Ramona sighed and said to Maria, “I’m sorry, this was a bad idea and-”

“No. It wasn’t. You couldn’t have known. No one could have.”

“But I-”

“No ‘buts,’ misses. You did what you could and you got us out alive. I think that’s more than enough for me,” Maria reassured.

“No more adventures for us for a long while,” Ramona said solemnly.

“I think I’m fine just lying in bed with you, next time around,” Maria said with a tired smile.

“Next time around, I’m making you breakfast in bed,” Ramona said with a chuckle.

“That sounds good to me. Hey, what’s that? Oh God, not another one…”

Ramona slowed the car down as the incline of the road started to level out. Up ahead in the headlights, a thick tree trunk stretched upwards diagonally out of the forest, leaning high above the road. Then it swung down, lowering itself gracefully and peering down at the car with a weary, doe-eyed face. Looking down upon them was a long-necked dinosaur, slowly emerging from the forest, four lumbering limbs shaking the ground slightly. It let out a low, melodic call, like the song of a whale. It then raised its head back up to an unbelievable height, not unlike a giraffe if giraffes were forty-feet tall and weighed several tons. It gently lumbered forward across the road, with another following in its path. Alongside that one, another followed, no more than half its size — a child. The family of dinosaurs all crossed the road together, singing their beautiful, otherworldly song together, briefly acknowledging the vehicle before disappearing into the forest once more.

“Pretty…” Lucy cooed from the backseat.

Ramona and Maria both looked at each other silently, confused for a moment before letting the tension dissolve into childlike giggling, breathing sighs of relief.

“Let’s go home,” Ramona said with a tired smile to match her wife’s, both pairs of eyes suddenly starry-eyed.

Ramona stepped on the gas and kept on driving, the headlights of the SUV a gentle candle working its way through a dark house, an ancient house full of many surprises. Ramona kept on driving with tired but vigilant eyes, finally reaching the exit, with the SUV passing under a painted wood sign that read “Thank You for Visiting Sequoia National Park! Please Come Again Soon!” as an ancient, otherworldly melody echoed out into the night, rising up into the sky as the clouds started to part, the timid stars finally revealing themselves.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello dear reader, thank you for reading this little oneshot. The Jurassic series is something with plenty of potential for vast storytelling, and after Fallen Kingdom, there's an even greater potential for stories. I left exactly when this is set rather ambiguous for a couple reasons. Specimens of dilophosaurus and brachiosaurus weren't rescued off Isla Nublar before the eruption as far as we know, but Dr. Wu escaped Lockwood Manor with embryos of both and many others, so some time has passed as there are now adult specimens of those animals roaming the mainland. These could have been created by him or some third party. I wanted to use adult dilophosaurs to show how terrifying a full grown one would be compared to the younger one seen in the first film. These ones are a bit of a hybrid between the novel and film versions, since they can spit without opening the frill. I headcanon that adults won't use the frill as much since its largely an intimidation mechanism (seen here when confused by the truck and when Blue shows up) and can instead spit in a more subtle matter as they are now seasoned hunters. The family of brachiosaurs I had in there to convey the inherent majesty of these animals and to balance out the portrayal of dinosaurs, as they are neither inherently good or bad, neither heroes or villains, just unaligned animals seeking their own survival, doing their thing. Since Blue is featured in the canonical Live Tour show, I figured I could borrow her and have her make an appearance here, since she is in the California region at the end of Fallen Kingdom. Sequoia National Park is a huge space, and it's not difficult to imagine a dinosaur walking among the huge trees if you're there yourself. Sequoia is a place of nostalgic value for me, plus the main road up the hills is pretty damn spooky at night. It's a place where the forest can be darker than the night sky, where anything can be hiding, even a genetically modified dinosaur.
> 
> I was largely inspired to write this after reading some interviews by Colin Trevorrow, stating that these animals would try to integrate themselves in this world and that people would be forced to adapt, with the risk of an encounter with them being akin to a run-in with a bear or a shark. Another inspiration was the Crichton's novel, particularly Nedry's death scene. I was also inspired by Sattler's line in the first movie about women inheriting the Earth after men were eaten by dinosaurs. It's no coincidence that the surviving cast is a lesbian couple and their daughter. Life found a way.
> 
> If this doesn't gain traction, I don't mind, as this was just a fun story idea that I wanted to make for myself and share with my best friend/personal editor. If Jurassic fans like it or if this even reaches Trevorrow himself, well then that would sure be something. If you like this, check out Michael Crichton's novels and give the films another watch. Remember: even actions with the best of intentions can cause the greatest harm, particularly in the case of scientific progress being commandeered by institutional desires.
> 
> Happy International Dinosaur Day, y'all.


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